From here on out you can choose what the rest of the points are...Fire for elemental, go more into ice (ICE BARRIER FTW ZOMG), or a little arcane for PvE. Elemental Precision is really nice, too. Makes up for alot of gear you'd need...

What are you looking to spec for? PvP, heavy raiding, or a mix of the two? The new patch added a bunch of survivability/burst for PvP with Elemental, and eased up the threat for raiding. How either of those concepts applies to your Mage depends on what it is you actually do. :P

Serra wrote:What are you looking to spec for? PvP, heavy raiding, or a mix of the two? The new patch added a bunch of survivability/burst for PvP with Elemental, and eased up the threat for raiding. How either of those concepts applies to your Mage depends on what it is you actually do.

I'm going for something that is more pve, but can deal with pvp to an extent...

Improved Frostbolt is for those weird Mages that like to do damage instead of gazing at their glowing hands.
Frost Warding is a PvP facet I've found rewarding.
Elemental Precision is strictly late-game PvE but in those three points you can make up for months of raiding in effectiveness. If you're leveling, it also allows you to fight mobs 3-4 levels above you without being resisted extensively.
Frostbite isn't a talent I'm fond of, but in instances it'll save your life and for 3 points it's not a bad investment. I'd drop these in Permafrost if you group PvP at all.
Cold Snap is a no-brainer.
Frost Nova is for Shatter which is mandatory for PvP.
Frost Channeling went from the best PvE talent in the three to the best PvE talent in the game in 1.11, as far as I'm concerned.
Improved Cone of Cold is mandatory for PvP.
Winter's Chill is trash for PvP, but if you ever group with another Ice Mage, look out. O_o
Ice Block is the best mage talent in my opinion.
Ice Barrier is 4x better than it was last patch with a 30 second cooldown.

The Arcane Tree is simply for Arcane Concentration which rocks profusely for long fights and reducing downtime.

For some background on why my opinion is worth a damn, my (retired) Mage's profile is here, and as you can tell by the 3/2 Burning Soul talent, the profile hasn't been updated in a while. Build I currently use is here. It's a build based strictly on Scorch in PvP based on my high +fire damage (get some pretty ridiculous rolling Ignites with Combustion too ^_^). Since ZHC got nerfed, I just wear my Eye of the Beast too - profile doesn't reflect that.

Serra wrote:http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=Rf0VZZiAG0oftAoIs something I would do. Before Ice had an entire tree full of talents worth taking, this was a lot easier.

Improved Frostbolt is for those weird Mages that like to do damage instead of gazing at their glowing hands.Frost Warding is a PvP facet I've found rewarding.Elemental Precision is strictly late-game PvE but in those three points you can make up for months of raiding in effectiveness. If you're leveling, it also allows you to fight mobs 3-4 levels above you without being resisted extensively.Frostbite isn't a talent I'm fond of, but in instances it'll save your life and for 3 points it's not a bad investment. I'd drop these in Permafrost if you group PvP at all.Cold Snap is a no-brainer.Frost Nova is for Shatter which is mandatory for PvP.Frost Channeling went from the best PvE talent in the three to the best PvE talent in the game in 1.11, as far as I'm concerned.Improved Cone of Cold is mandatory for PvP.Winter's Chill is trash for PvP, but if you ever group with another Ice Mage, look out. O_oIce Block is the best mage talent in my opinion.Ice Barrier is 4x better than it was last patch with a 30 second cooldown.

The Arcane Tree is simply for Arcane Concentration which rocks profusely for long fights and reducing downtime.

For some background on why my opinion is worth a damn, my (retired) Mage's profile is here, and as you can tell by the 3/2 Burning Soul talent, the profile hasn't been updated in a while. Build I currently use is here. It's a build based strictly on Scorch in PvP based on my high +fire damage (get some pretty ridiculous rolling Ignites with Combustion too ^_^). Since ZHC got nerfed, I just wear my Eye of the Beast too - profile doesn't reflect that.

Personally, I'd take the two points out of Frost Warding and 1 point out of Winter's Chill (All you need in WC is 4 points if you have a good balance of Frost Mages, and Frost Warding only provides +168 armor) then take those 3 points and put it into Piercing Ice. With enough +Spell Damage, the Piercing ice REALLY makes a big difference - With a 700 damage Frost bolt (avg. damage for an avg +250 spell damage FB) thats +42 spell damage.

Fair enough, I did use Piercing Ice back when I was frost - but it really is more of a min/max talent. If you have good gear and are crunching numbers, no denying its necessity. I sure do like Frost Warding though. :P

If you want to raid serious 25 man content, I wouldn't go too deep in Frost if I where you. A good chunck of frost DPS depends on freezing your opponent and then using shatter. Almost all serious raid targets are unfreezable, except for some kitables.

Most of the mage sin my guild spec up to Icy Veins, and the rest in Fire.